Zermatt, Switzerland - 31/5/2008-2/6/2008

Our next stop in Switzerland was the town of Zermatt, a car-free town at the southern end of Valais, technically just north of Italy, but not an easy walk to get there. We took the Glacier Express from Brig, a cozy train with lots of big windows for sight seeing and an audio guide that pointed out some of the sights.

Once arriving to Zermatt, our chalet was easy enough to find. We had most of a cozy 2 bedroom flat to ourselves, all save the 2nd bedroom which was kept locked. We deposited our luggage and set out to explore.

In terms of technicalities, Zermatt is a car free town. That you might get run over by electric carts or buses at any turn seems to not count in the grand scheme of things. We nearly got smooshed a few times as we wandered around the town looking for a glimpse of the Matterhorn and, more importantly, a nice place to go for dinner.

Sadly, Switzerland is not smoke free and our restaurant was not as nice as we had hoped. Service was a bit underwhelming though the omelette was nice. After dinner we caught a glimpse of the Matterhorn but not the full squinty wizard hat view. It raised our hopes, though not much. Weather was not meant to clear for any of our stay in Zermatt.

The next morning, we woke up to misty fog in the upper elevations and decided against the Little Matterhorn cable car. Expensive trip for no real view. Instead, we took the Gornergratbahn to the resort of Gornergrat. In clearer weather, we could see lots of mountains. Instead, we saw lots of valleys with glaciers and bases that became mountains in the fog. More importantly, I got to laugh at altitude-challenged Brian. I felt ok, a bit warm for the 5^oC of ambient temperature.

As we got off the train, I got to pet two very bored St. Bernards who would be there all day for photo opportunities.

An old chapel remains beside the resort in impressively good condition. We wandered past that, as well as another puppy enjoying the snow. It seems a very European thing to be able to take your dog with you on public transport. Unheard of back home. We reached the highest tourist elevation of 3089m and enjoyed the views. The altitude was really getting to Brian -- he couldn't move all that fast for the dizziness. Footprints led across the glacier toward the Monta Rosa hut, which is a challenging walk in the midst of the summer. It has interesting consequences. Fall off a cliff on one side or slide down a steep glacial slope on the other. Death is a real possibility with either slip.

The restaurant inside was a nice break for more sniggering at dizzy boyfriend.

After bidding farewell to the still bored St Bernards, we took the train back to Riffelalp, another resort village at a less dizzying elevation. From there, we saw the waterfalls that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to off Sherlock Holmes, or so sayeth the monument there, and also saw some nuns much better dressed for hiking than we were. In the distance, it looked like a rescue puppy was being trained among the boulders.

From Riffelalp, we walked down the hill to Zermatt ahead of the hiking nuns. Once near Zermatt, we chose to follow the scenic trail that traced part of the circumference of the town rather than just the easy tromp back into town. The payoff for that included a gem of a waterfall and some other really beautiful sights as well as doubling back from some rather dubious trails. We arrived back to Zermatt properly tired.

Dinner at the place next to the rude place was lovely. The rösti really hit the spot, as did the local Valais wine, which demonstrated yet again that I am a cheap drunk on wine.

Monday morning, we made one final look at the Matterhorn to decide if any of the higher elevation journeys were worthwhile. Sadly, no. Instead, we followed some instructions on one of our map and took a nice walk up to the hostel Edelweiss, which juts out over a cliff overlooking Zermatt. Brian wants to buy it. There is a cable that runs from the cliff that looks like they might run supplies up it. I didn't see an opportunity for any sort of road access. It's one of many potential stops along the Matterhorn rim.

We had just enough time for that walk and an indecisive wander through town for one last meal. The normal train left on time and we arrived to Brig with some time to spare before our train back to Milan.

The train journeys are worth a mention. On the way up, the Italians are supposed to check passports as you leave and the Swiss as you enter. On the return journey, vice versa. On our outward journey, the Italians walked through the train wearing guns and looking bored. They didn't look at passports. The Swiss came through a few minutes later, wearing guns and looking serious, and examined each passport. Sadly, no stamp. On our return journey, the Swiss walked through wearing guns and looking bored and the Italians walked through wearing guns and not really checking passports. They targeted two guys who didn't look European for thorough passport inspection and made some calls before letting the train go on.

We arrived to Milan slightly late and began the adventure of navigating its underground, which was surprisingly cheap and reasonably easy to navigate to the conference hotel.

The Matterhorn never peeked completely out from behind its cloudcover. If you really look for it, you can see the telltale hook.

Zermatt is supposedly a car free town, but with all of these electric cars zipping about, not to mention the electric buses, I don't really count it as car free.

Bored puppies at Gornergrat. Their person was using them to make some cash by taking photos of people with them. The puppies wanted none of it.

Mountain goats and their precarious ledge. It doesn't look as steep as it is, and that glacier is a long way down.

Altitude (3089m) had interesting effects on both of us. Brian felt lightheaded and dizzy. I felt a bit too warm even at 5^oC.

Brian walked softly, but carried a big stick. Har. Har. Har.

These are not the Reichenbach Falls, but a plaque nearby says that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came up with the famous demise of Sherlock Holmes at Riffelalp.

The Swiss nuns seemed pretty hardcore.

Along the hike from Riffelalp to Zermatt, we passed two random restaurant/chalets along the way. In the woods. With not the easiest access in the world for delivering supplies.

Returning to Zermatt amidst the mountains of Valais

The hills are alive...

Edelweiss hostel is an hour walk uphill from Zermatt and probably makes a good starting point for the mountain hut circuit.

The view from Edelweiss hostel down to Zermatt

Brian used his raincoat creatively.

Bettmeralp - 30/5/2008 - 31/5/2008

A conference in Milan, Italy, provided a good excuse to add some personal holidays to either end. Brian and I spent the first long weekend in the Swiss Alps, exploring the towns of Bettmeralp and Zermatt and, more importantly, the surrounding countryside.

We had a reminder of why it was unwise to book train travel in Italy over the internet. I got a discount on prebooking the Milano Central to Brig train tickets, but learned that I would have to travel to Switzerland to collect the tickets. So, I had to figure out how to buy Italian tickets, an adventure in itself. Upon arrival to Brig, I got a refund of my unused Swiss ticket in francs, so everything was right in the end.

At an altitude of 1950m, Bettmeralp is car-free town, accessible only by cable car from Betten station or long slog up the hill. I booked a room for one night at the Restaurant Alpina, which turned out to be the only restaurant open in Bettmeralp at all and one of very few sources of accommodation. The lull between the end of ski season and the beginning of the summer season is when many hotel and restaurant owners take their holidays. We found it easily enough from Bettmeralp station and settled into our room.

The weather outside didn't look very friendly, but we decided to take our chances with a walk to see the glacier anyway.

The Aletsch Glacier is the largest in Europe and the area around it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We followed the well marked trail from Bettmeralp to Moosfluh overlooking the glacier. As elevation increased, more snow surrounded the trail. Along the ridge at Moosfluh, snow-filled crevasses made the walk far more challenging. The rain made it cold as well. We were soaked pretty quickly and made our retreat after reaching one of the glacier overlooks.

By the time we reached the restaurant

Brian looks fetching amidst the Alps and the ill-placed flagpole.

A few weeks prior, the Bettmeralp ski centre probably still had plenty of snow.

The dark sky we saw wasn't joking. The weather quickly turned to heavy rain, turning us wet and cold. Our first hike was long enough to see the glacier but short enough that we were back in the warm room drying our clothes an hour later.

Trailfinding along the ridge was easy when the blazes were not covered in snow (beside Brian's feet).